Every January 26 I go to the Invasion Day rally. I have been going long enough that there is now a body of photographs across multiple years, and looking back at them it is possible to see what changes and what stays the same — the same speeches, the same buildings, the same flags, the same grief, the same determination.
The 2021 rally was held under the shadow of COVID-19 restrictions that had shaped most of the previous year. The crowd wore masks and the organisers were mindful of distancing, but the energy was the same as it always is. The Queen Victoria statue at the top of the steps, surrounded by Aboriginal flags and draped with a “NOT THE QUEEN’S LAND” banner, is one of the most photographically definitive images I have made at any protest in Brisbane.
On the statue image: The statue of Queen Victoria at Brisbane’s Parliament House gardens has been a contested site at many Invasion Day rallies. The juxtaposition of the colonial monument surrounded by Aboriginal flags and protest banners makes a statement that needs nothing from the photographer beyond good framing. I made this image early in the day before the crowd had gathered fully.
On the speakers: The platform speakers at Invasion Day include elders who have been making these arguments for decades, and younger organisers who have grown up in the movement. Photographing them requires patience — waiting for the moment when the expression and the gesture align with the content of what is being said. The speaker with the Aboriginal flag around her shoulders was mid-sentence when I made the image, and the photograph carries that urgency.
On photographing children at political events: Children at Invasion Day are participants, not spectators. The boy in the “Black Flag” shirt — the Aboriginal flag printed as a band logo — was watching everything with the specific attention of a child who has been brought to something important and understands it. I did not ask for that expression. It was simply how he looked.
On white clay: White clay worn in ceremony or in solidarity appears at Invasion Day every year. It marks participation in something that predates the rally by tens of thousands of years, and photographing it requires the same respect as photographing any ceremonial practice.
The rally in Meanjin continues to grow. The photographs accumulate. The day does not change.
More Invasion Day coverage: Invasion Day Brisbane 2016